He was the designated hitter in a minor league spring training game on March 23, and the next day it became clear that he was heading for the disabled list. The month since has been full of a mystery. Everything about Jeter was kind of uncertain. How much longer would he need? Why did his workouts seem so light? Why did he still need so many days off?

Turns out, those of us on the outside weren’t the only ones left in the dark.

“From talking to him, it was, ‘Man, there’s something irritating in there. What is it?’” Curtis Granderson said. “They looked at a bunch of different things and they finally found it.”

As we now know, Jeter has a small fracture that will keep him out until at least the All-Star break. Granderson spent much of the past month rehabbing with Jeter in Tampa, and Granderson’s arrival in the Yankees clubhouse on Monday was a chance to finally talk to someone who’s spent considerable time with Jeter himself during these weeks of lingering uncertainty.

“The big thing for him is he finally knows what it is,” Granderson said. “I think he was definitely frustrated like, why is there something going on? Everything says it’s OK. We’re trying this, that and the other, and I’m going out trying to push forward, and I can’t. There’s something, some cause of that. What is that cause? We finally found out what that cause is. So, as interesting as it sounds, it’s relief to know finally what it is.”

Granderson said Jeter was still around the minor league complex the day after he found out about the fracture. Did the news seem shocking?

“I’m not sure what the word to describe what it was,” Granderson said. “Just that, there was something. Just, what is that something? If it were a break, if it were a tendon, if it was swelling, if it was irritation — whatever it was, he just wanted to know. And he finally found out.”